Construction has been completed on North High Street between Lane and Arcadia avenues, ending a streetscape makeover that began in June 2008.
Parts of High in Old North Columbus, which runs from Lane Avenue to Glen Echo Ravine, had become run down, said Rick Tilton, city public service spokesman.
“That area was in bad condition,” Tilton said. “When we started construction we saw that the roadbed was in such bad shape that a layer of concrete had to be poured before the top layer of asphalt could go on.”
Because of heavy traffic flow on High, Tilton said the primary goal was to get the street into good driving condition by leveling the roadbed and resurfacing it with asphalt. That project also offered an opportunity to renovate to the streetscape, he said.
“The sidewalks, streetlights, curbs and curb ramps are all new,” he said. “We put in bike racks and decorative lights and planted trees to make the area look nice, and we buried the power lines so they don’t show.”
Ornamental arches were also added at Lane and Arcadia to mark the entrances to Old North Columbus.
The 16-month project also called for new waterlines and sewers to improve drainage problems that have long plagued High Street.
The project finished within the city’s proposed budget of $15.8 million, Tilton said. Complete General Construction, a Columbus-based general contractor, was hired for the job.
Work was scheduled to be completed by November 2009 but finished a few weeks early, Tilton said. The city sped up work to reduce complaints from business owners, who said they lost customers during the process because there was no place to park on High Street.
Tilton said he agreed the construction areas were congested and posed some problems for businesses, but said they will recover.
“I think it’s a short-term pain [and a] long-term gain,” he said. “This is a complete makeover and it’s going to provide a good streetscape and a solid roadway for decades.”
Maria Quezada, a manager at Cazuela’s Mexican Grill on the corner of West Northwood Avenue and High, said the restaurant’s lunch hour took a hit because most of the parking off High is permit only until 4 p.m.
Construction started in the southbound lane, Quezada said, and workers ran into problems almost immediately.
“It took a long time on our side of the street. We had a meeting with the construction [company] owner and he said they noticed more problems and had to go to the city to ask them if they had to redo everything,” she said. “So they stopped and then had those meetings and had to tear it up again.”
Quezada said after work was finally complete in the southbound lane, the construction crew flipped to the northbound side.
“They knew what they were doing that time, so it didn’t take as long,” she said.
Although Cazuela’s lost some business over the 16-month period, Quezada said she thinks the street looks nice and the construction was worth it.
“I think it will attract people to walk more this way instead of staying on campus,” she said. “The area looks a lot better and we hope people driving by will want to stop in.”
The maze of orange barrels that decorated High made driving a headache, said Stephen Kaple, a fourth-year biology major and West Patterson Avenue resident.
“It got pretty confusing,” Kaple said. “They would move the barrels around a lot so you never knew where to drive.”
He said many residents with on-street parking permits had nowhere to park when some of the side roads were repaved as part of the makeover.
“Parking along High Street is bad enough as it is, not to mention when they got something done they would tear it up again,” Kaple said. “For people that drive around here, that’s pretty bad.”
Kaple also said the construction was beneficial to the area, but it seemed disorganized and took too long to complete.
“I don’t know how some of these people [businesses] stayed open,” he said. “I think it’s pretty nice, but it would’ve been nicer a year ago.”
